


Priceless

by CabbageHead



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Canon Compliant, Parental Roy Mustang, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:29:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29808432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CabbageHead/pseuds/CabbageHead
Summary: A short thing about scars and equivalent exchange.  And unintentional fatherhood.Basically, I started re-watching this series and was forcefully reminded of certain headcanons that you can pry from my cold dead fingers.  Enjoy.
Relationships: Alphonse Elric & Edward Elric, Roy Mustang & the Elrics
Comments: 4
Kudos: 73





	Priceless

Cold wind raked his hair across his face. The boy beside him was doing his utmost to keep the panic from creeping into his voice (it wasn’t working too well). Roy had learned, mere months after meeting him, that Fullmetal did not scare easily. He was, both physically and emotionally, young, but that did not change how deep his stubborn streak and determination ran. He rarely, if ever, showed fear.

He was shaking now though. Which meant it was the end of the world.

His little brother’s armor was hidden from the view of anyone who didn’t already know the secret as Roy and his subordinates helped Fullmetal put the pieces back together. Fullmetal—no, Edward—scanned the pieces with terrified eyes, looking for something he wouldn’t name.

“What's this?” asked Havoc, holding up a piece of Al’s back gently in both hands.

Ed rushed over and gingerly but firmly took the metal from Havoc and stared at it. Relief washed over his face and he said, “Al?”

“Hi Brother,” replied the metal piece. “Sorry to worry you.”

Everyone stared. They all knew the suit was hollow but seeing a single piece of metal respond when none of the others did was rather disconcerting. Roy casually strolled over to look. He set his face to neutral even though horror settled like lead into his gut. So _that_ was what bound Al’s soul to the armor.

“Can you fix him without hurting it?” he asked Ed. It wasn’t the question he actually wanted an answer to.

“Yes.” Then he called to the group at large, “Stand back.”

He clapped his hands together and blue light arced through the air around the scraps. In short order, the suit was back to normal. Al stood, creaking like normal, and bowed apologetically to the gathered soldiers.

“Thanks for your help.”

“You only lost your leg to the actual transmutation,” Roy repeated. Drawing out the words and stewing on their implications.

“What’s an arm compared to my brother?” Ed asked, defiant, daring him to chastise his decision.

“Nothing,” Roy admitted. “However,” he amended, “neither he nor any other person who cares about you—” _me included_ , he did not say “—would forgive you if you gave away your own life with as little thought. Keep that in mind, Fullmetal.”

Ed regarded him solemnly for a moment before nodding.

Edward was going to break that promise. Roy knew it even without looking (though he couldn’t see _anything_ let alone a teenager’s fire filled eyes). He could only hope that idiot had thought this through at least a little.

But he also knew that Al meant more to Ed than anything in the world.

He heard the clap and the sizzling of the alchemy being performed. He waited, muscles taut, listening for the scream or else the gasp from the crowd. He waited and almost flinched when several gasps went up from the crowd.

No. Please no.

“What happened?” he whispered to the pillar of support at his side.

Riza squeezed his arm and he could hear the joyful smile on her face as she said, “They’re okay.”

All the tension and adrenaline left him crashing but relief buoyed him up.

“It’s warm,” said Al’s voice from _actual vocal chords_. No hollow ring. No clanking or scraping of metal as he moved. Roy choked back his tears. And he _absolutely did not_ cry when he heard Ed’s answering laugh.

Days into the aftermath of a fight with God, Roy was granted his sight back. He visited all his subordinates and close friends first, before going to see the Elrics. He didn’t know what to expect really, but he had seen a picture of Alphonse as a much younger boy before, so he had a baseline at least.

He wasn’t disappointed. They looked a lot alike, though Al had a decidedly gentler (and gaunter) face. Al smiled as he walked in and Ed nodded to him.

“Glad to see you’ve got your sight back at least,” Ed said. “I heard Dr. Marco helped with that.”

Roy smiled and chuckled. “Who else? At any rate, both of you look like you’ll recover fully.” Ed’s right arm, he noticed, was thinner than his left, though that was infinitely better than automail. His eyes drifted down, and his smile fell. “Didn’t get your leg back though, huh?”

“Nope, but I can live with a metal leg.”

Al’s face fell. Roy drew in a breath and leaned against the wall. “What did you end up giving? I didn’t hear that part.”

“My alchemy.”

Roy’s head jerked up and he searched Ed’s eyes. _What’s an arm compared to my brother?_ A small smile split his face. Nothing, of course, because a loved one’s life is priceless. “You got a good deal then.”

Ed nodded and Al looked between them. “You did make me promise I wouldn’t give my own life.”

“Someone had to do it.”

Al caught Roy’s eye and smiled. _Thank you_.

They talked for some time after that, discussing plans and the future of the country. Then Ed took Al out to the hospital gardens (in a wheelchair as per doctor’s orders) and Roy walked with them. Ed parked the wheelchair beneath a tree and pounced on something in a bush. He returned triumphant and presented a startled frog to his brother.

Al laughed and leaned forward a bit to hold it. He was smiling at the sensations, but that wasn’t what Roy’s eyes caught on. There was a scar on the nape of his neck, previously hidden under the collar of his shirt. It looked old, though he knew it wasn’t.

The seal. Permanently etched into his skin.

Ed saw him staring and apparently knew immediately. He set his mouth in a firm line. The look was as unmistakable as the mark. _Say nothing._

On their way back, the doctor called to Ed from another room and Roy took over pushing the wheelchair.

Al broke their silence. “You saw the scar, right Colonel?”

Roy hesitated only a moment. “Yes. . . Does it bother you?”

Al glanced up at him. “Not at all. It doesn’t hurt.”

“I meant more as a reminder.”

“Ah.” Al smiled and sat back. “No. It’d be weirder to not have anything to show for all of that. Brother has a large scar on his shoulder and the automail leg. I think it bothers him though. . . that I have the scar that is.”

“Makes sense. Since he basically gave it to you.”

“But that’s just it.” Al sighed. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

“No. . . I think I get it.” It was _proof_. Proof he’d survived. And certainly, undeniable proof that Edward loved him unconditionally. “I’m glad you can carry it with pride.”

After watching the boys get on their train home safely, he turned to Riza with the strangest realization: “I’m going to miss them.”

She laughed, mostly at the face he was no doubt making. “Me too. Though I expect we’ll see them again soon enough.”

He nodded, sighing heavily. “When I joined the military, I’d never expected to be babysitting.”

“Or unofficially adopting.”

He shot her a (fake) affronted glare. “You think I see them as _my_ kids?”

She glanced at him with those skeptical eyes that said, _we both know you do_. (She was, as usual, right though he’d never admit it.)

Neither of them were particularly surprised when Ed asked him to walk Winry down the aisle and Roy said yes. (Sig and Izumi Curtis were granted the honor of being Ed’s parents at the wedding. Roy tried not to be jealous. Havoc and the others may or may not have laughed at him for that.)


End file.
